Happy Christmas

I'm in Christmas holiday mode and prioritizing people over making and posting for while. So here's a belated Happy Christmas wish to everybody. I'll have plenty of pics to choose from when I get back to blogging in a week or so.

Finishing

Today is my last day for Christmas making. I hope there will be time for some creative play, but first I need to finish some of the things I've been working on. I mean really finish.

The saying goes, "the job's not done until the paperwork's done". For me it's a case of "the job's not done until the fastenings are attached". I'll start on that while I brew myself another coffee. Then I can go out to the studio and have some fun.

Conversation Starter

I was sitting at the hairdresser yesterday afternoon when I received a message from young R: "Could you maybe help me with some sewing repairs?". We were planning a quick catch up and easy tea in the evening. Speaking from experience I sent back, "I'll have a go. Do I need any supplies?" "Yeah, maybe a heavy duty needle . . . it's a hole in a bag." R has just returned from a World Challenge trip to South East Asia. My imagination started to fill in possibilities of what "a hole in a bag" might mean.  I'm always amused and a little bit proud when my friends' children treat me as the "go to" person for fixing things, though sometimes I feel that a magic wand is the required tool rather than any of my textile supplies. I wasn't planning to go home before our catch up. Nor was I sure that I had suitable needles at home. And they're always useful things to have around. Instead of coming home to search my studio, I stopped off at a local fabric store to pick up these:

Either the right needle would be in this aray, or it would be a "magic wand" job. Picking these up resulted in a friendly conversation with a new shop assistant. I came away with requests for information about the various sewing and quilting classes I'm involved with in local Neighbourhood Houses--that's another type of conversation I love.

The repair job turned out to be "doable". The bag was reasonably well made and just one seam had come undone at a wear point. Despite my impressive choice of needles, I ended up repairing the seam in layers. my fingers just don't have the strength of an industrial machine to get through eight thicknesses of bag fabric!

This morning making sure I took the set of needles out of my handbag was a priority. I'm flying interstate in a couple of days. I can just imagine these sharp metal objects showing up at the security screening point. Now there's a conversation I'd rather avoid. 

Like This

Here's one of my first experiments with the coffee cup candle holder idea I mentioned yesterday.

Deciding how much decoration to add was the biggest dilemma. I've kept it pretty light in my first few attempts. If I have time later in the week I might just go to town!

Opportunity

After a couple of sessions of trying out my new beading skills I decided it was time to work out some shortcuts. I do like the sparkle and detail of many tiny glass beads carefully strung together, but it takes far too long to make anything useful. A trip to one of the local Opp Shops yielded this:

I found a set of glass coffee cups with plastic handles. The handles slip off easily leaving an indented ring around what is now a glass cylinder. I'm going to try beading around that ring. The glass is designed for hot drinks, so it should cope with a candle without any trouble. I'll see how I go.

Something New

I've spent a couple of afternoons in the studio learning something new. New for me, that is . . .

This is one of my discarded early attempts. It took me several tries before I got into the rhythm and started to really see the pattern. It's herringbone stitch beading. I found it in a book of Christmas decorations. I think I've got the hang of it now, but it's slow and precise work, so I don't think I'll be doing a lot of it. On the other hand I do like the way the angled silver-lined beads pick up the light.

Christmas Classics

'Tis the season for making pretty things . . .

. . . and for keeping secrets!

Just a teaser today before I head back to the studio.